Starfield’s lead dev says they “just nerfed the hell” out of game’s space exploration

In an interview, Starfield director Todd Howard revealed the developers planned for planetary exploration to be far more complex, but eventually chose to make it less difficult.

One of the most interesting parts of Starfield is exploring the game’s many planets. Bethesda Softworks has hidden a variety of secrets across the game’s universe, and the various resources, wildlife, and loot makes planets worth searching.

However, according to Starfield director Todd Howard, planetary exploration was originally going to be a lot more complicated and punishing.

Todd Howard says Starfield’s planetary exploration was initially pretty brutal

In an interview with The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Howard explained that planetary exploration was more difficult earlier in development. This was due to the game’s original approach to environmental damage. As Howard described it, “The way the environmental damage works in the game on planets and on your suit, you have resistances to certain types of atmosphere effects, whether that’s radiation or thermal, etc.”

He went on to call it “a pretty complex system” and “very punitive, where you get these afflictions.”

Under this system, players would have had more specific reasons to collect various spacesuits so they could swap them out as needed to protect themselves from things like radiation and extreme cold.

However, while testing the game and fine-tuning environmental effects, Bethesda realized the system was probably too difficult for players.

“At the end of the day, it was a complicated system for players to understand,” Howard said “we just nerfed the hell out of it.” Now, afflictions “matter more in flavor” rather than actually hindering game progress or making things more challenging.

This original vision for planetary exploration certainly has more survival game elements than the final product. While they may have been more realistic and enjoyable for players who love games like Don’t Starve and Rust, simplifying things definitely makes Starfield far more approachable for most gamers.

Still, there’s a chance Starfield players will eventually have the chance to enjoy these more complex systems. Howard does say it “might be something we address moving forward,” and if Starfield does eventually get a Survival Mode like Skyrim or Fallout 4, more environmental damage would be a perfect fir.

If you liked this, be sure to check out the rest of our Starfield coverage, which includes the latest news, guides, and much more.